The researchers fed their subjects a control diet for four weeks and measured body fat mass and metabolism.

Then, they took 6 grams of fat out of the diet and replaced it with 6 grams of fish oil.

So, exactly the same calories, exactly the same fat. Only change was swapping out other fats for fish oil – and only 6 grams of it at that.

What do you think happened? Even though metabolism remained unchanged, the subjects LOST FAT!

The control group who kept on the original diet lost 0.7 pounds over the next 3 weeks.

The fish oil group lost 2.2 pounds (over 3x as much) in the same amount of time.

Diet was the same. Calories were the same. Exercise was the same. The only difference was the switching in of fish oil, and they lost 3x as much fat.

What does this mean for you?

Start taking some freaking fish oil!!

I take 12-15 grams a day. I recommend at least 6 grams a day. Start with 2 grams, one capsule with breakfast, the other with dinner. If you stomach still feels ok, add another capsule every few days until you reach six.

SPOILER ALERT: This next paragraph is gross.

You’ll know when you’ve reached your temporary maximum dosage because your poop will turn grey and runny. Back down a gram or two if this happens. As your system adjusts over a few weeks, you can start adding again.

To keep fish burps to a minimum, take your capsules with food, get enteric coated capsules, take lemon-flavored fish oil, or keep your capsules in the fridge (good idea anyway).

Lots of people come in to my fitness bootcamp classes with super-tight hamstrings.

Even if you’re dedicated about stretching at home (you are stretching in your spare time, right?) you might still be bothered by tight hammies.

It might even seem like flexibility is something some people have, and other people don’t – especially if you’re one of the inflexible ones.

What’s up with that? Is it true that some people are just born more flexible? Well, yeah :p

But you can get a LOT more flexible if you really do want to…

A couple of things might be making your hamstrings tight:

– Injuries

– Lack of hip mobility

– Overtraining

– Poor training

– Tight hamstrings!

Now, some strategies that I use in my bootcamp to loosen up those hamstrings.

The first thing you need to look at is if your hamstrings are really the problem. If you have to sit a lot during the day (in a desk or car). Your calves cross your knee like your hamstrings and so tight calves can make it hard to keep your knees straight when you stretch. And sitting a lot can affect your pelvic tilt which affects how you bend when you stretch.

Or you might have scar tissue on your fascia (the “skin” of your muscles) that is pulling tight.

Or maybe you have problems with your lower back. When this is the case you might notice that stretching exercises really hit your back and hips, but don’t seem to touch your legs at all.

So tight hamstrings may just be the symptom of some other problem, far beyond just a lack of flexibility.

Since so much can be going on, today’s post will be a few tips to get you started in the right direction (If you want a more in-depth assessment, my friend Dr. Brian Russell is phenomenal at treating any joint or muscle problem you might have. Here’s his website: Carson City Chiropractor)

Hamstring Tip #1: No Forcing

Stretching too forcefully can invoke your muscles’ “stretch reflex”, where the muscle actually tightens during a stretch. This is a protective mechanism to prevent injury.

Another problem with forcing a stretch is that you may not be aligned correctly due to injuries, poor posture, or improper training. Forcing a stretch from a bad position is a recipe for making things worse.

Stretch slowly and focus on deep even breathing. After about 30 seconds, you should feel yourself relax into the stretch – this is where flexibility will improve.

Hamstring Tip #2: Stretch Hamstrings Last

As I mentioned above, other muscles may be holding your hamstrings back.

Some knee bend is actually ok if you’re trying to stretch your hamstrings.

The reason for this is that a bit of flexion will take most of the calf out of the hamstring stretch, allowing you to hit the hammies better.

Use the knee bend tip if you feel hamstring stretches in the backs of your knees instead of the backs of your thighs.

Hamstring Tip #5: Use A Full Range Of Motion

After all this stretching and foam rolling, you want to make sure you keep whatever new flexibility and mobility you build.

The secret to this is to use full range of motion exercises in your workouts. Short range of motion activities like cycling or running will keep your hamstring shortening back up, since they don’t require a full range of motion.

Basically, you need to teach your body to incorporate this new flexibility into how it moves. This is the key to maintaining your flexibility progress.

Now, if you have tight hamstrings, these five tips will definitely start you off on the path to flexibility!

3. B-complex supplementation. The B vitamins all work together, if you’re missing just one, none of them work.

4. Full-spectrum Sea Salts. Sea salts are full of the trace minerals you need to keep yourself in balance. I personally like to get a salt from a different area every time I need some more. This week it might be Celtic salts, next week Himalayan salts. Doing this helps me be sure that I’m getting a wide variety of trace minerals.

5. Magnesium. Try to get 600-800mg a day. Magnesium glycinate is very easily absorbed by your body. Since magnesium can be taken in through your skin, Epsom salt (magnesium sulphate) baths or magnesium oils can be a good magnesium boost when you’re feeling down or overworked.

6. Zinc. Zinc can be rough on an empty stomach, so I take my zinc and magnesium right after breakfast. If I’m feeling beat down from tough workouts or super-stressed, I take a second dose after dinner.

7. L-tryptophan. This amino acid is what people talk about in turkey dinners – it doesn’t make you sleepy, don’t worry :). Typtophan is useful for fighting off both depression and anxiety and is a direct precursor to serotonin.

A good way to take tryptophan is 500mg on an empty stomach and note how you are feeling. If you don’t improve your sense of general well-being within a half hour, take 500mg more, and continue. When you start feeling better, that is your dose. (Note: Do NOT take is you are also taking anti-depressants. Talk to your doctor first)

8. Theanine. This amino acid is useful for combating anxiety paired with mind racing and physical tension. Begin with a low amount on an empty stomach and find your personal prescription the same way you did with L-typtophan in #7.

Theanine can be found in black and green tea and is the precursor to the calming neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid.

Theanine shows positive effects on both serotoning and dopamine. Small doses can raise your energy, while larger amounts are very relaxing.

More benefits include lowering high blood pressure (maybe through the calming effect) as well as being neuroprotective against alzheimer’s and dementia.

9. Gamma-aminobutyric acid. This is the neurotransmitter supported with theanine. It can also be taken as a supplement itself. It is used by naturopaths for issues with anxiety, physical tension, and racing thoughts.

Tyrosine is stimulating and so you shouldn’t take it if you have a problem responding to stress, it might set you off. Also, since tyrosine is a precursor to melanin (skin pigment), so you shouldn’t take it if you have melanoma.

Don’t use tyrosine if anxiety is your problem, only for depression.

11. Taurine. Famous for being an ingredient in the energy drink Red Bull, tyrosine is good for fighting anxiety related problems. It helps take care of nervousness without being sedating.

Taurine is an antioxidant, helps support bile functions, and helps take care of the electrical system in your brain and heart.

Work out your dosage the way you would with other amino acids (small amounts on an empty stomach). Very high doses might have a diuretic effect (you’ll pee more), but aren’t toxic.

12. DL-phenylalanine. Another amino acid precursor to tyrosine, norepinephrine, dopamine, and endorphins. Read about tyrosine above, DL-phenylalanine has the same warnings.

Using a light box for 15-30 minutes in the morning can shut down melatoning production during the day, which lessens fatigue and depression as well as raising serotonin levels.

Spend as much time outdoors as you can without burning to get the most you can out of “light nutrients.”

Oh, and don’t wear sunglasses when you walk on your lunch break.

14. Vitamin D. Vitamin D is another supplement I take daily. Deficiencies in vitamin D can lead to not only depression and anxiety, but a whole host of other health problems. (A lack of vitamin D has been shown to be a big cancer risk)

I used to coach school sports, and I’d have my athletes keep food journals the first week of practice. Girls were coming to a 3 o’clock practice having had nothing more than a diet soda! Guys were coming in that had had a bag of Doritos and a Mountain Dew. How the heck are athletes supposed to improve if this is the fuel they are using at practice?!? (Short answer: they don’t improve)

Breakfast. Lunch. And maybe a quick small snack on the way to gymnastics class. That will ensure that our Carson City Gymnastics athletes are fueled at practice.

And afterwards RECOVERY is extremely important. During practice muscles are broken down and they need nutrients to repair themselves. A healthy dinner right after an evening class is essential, even if your athlete isn’t hungry, they need to eat something to bring them out of the breakdown state brought on by exercise.

3. Get plenty of sleep.

All of our gymnastics athletes could use more sleep. Not only does missing sleep lead to wandering attention during practice, it also limits energy and recovery.

8 hours should be the minimum for a hard-working gymnast, and 9 is even better. But.. this is important: they must be quality hours.

That means a quiet dark room. No music or TV playing.

Setting a sleep schedule will help even more, routine bed and wake-up times will train the body to go ahead and get deeper sleep, without the stress of unpredictability.

Limit “screen time” before bed as well. The blue light from computer monitors, smart phones, and TVs tricks the brain into thinking that it is daytime, and slowing the release of sleep chemicals that bring forth restful sleep.

4. Stay active outside of the gym.

This doesn’t mean high-risk activities like trampolining and ice-skating. Walks, swimming, and bike rides will all raise something called work capacity that will support greater efforts during gymnastics class.

These are also a great way to do something as a family, unless you feel like strapping on a leotard and sprinting at a vault platform with your athlete.

The keys here are that the extra activities should be easy and safe. You don’t want to hike up a mountain 2 hours before gymnastics class, that isn’t easy.

And you don’t want your gymnast to get hurt either, so keep it safe.

5. Keep away from poisonous things.

Fake foods are chemical storms that degrade health and erode energy, sapping the gymnast from the inside.

As convenient as it is to pick up fast food, realize that the ingredients in that food will hurt your gymnast’s performance and can even lead to health problems.

Without recommending a specific eating plan, follow the simple 3 step rule: Food shouldn’t need more than 3 steps to get to your table. If it takes more than 3 steps, it probably doesn’t belong in your mouth.

Most stretching improvement comes from time spent stretching. And stretching is one of the few vital areas that can be trained at home.

If Coach Dave wants the girls stretching for 30 minutes a day, the gymnasts can either do that at home, or spend 30 minutes of supervised practice time stretching instead of improving routines.

Flexibility is an area that the gymnast can have complete control over. You can’t control what other gymnasts will do, but when it comes to flexibility, you can improve as much as you are willing to.

7. Don’t ride the Drama Llama.

It’s natural that parents form a social group, we spend a lot of time together at practices, meets, and fundraisers. But (and this is a lesson from coaching lots of sports teams) don’t ever say anything negative about other parents (or coaches!) in front of the gymnasts.

This is incredibly distracting to young athletes who are trying to make sense of their world, and any drama involving other girls, parents, or coaches will keep them from doing their best.

You don’t have to be Miss Merry Sunshine all of the time, but realize that your attitude towards the other adults in this club will rub off on your athlete and it WILL affect their performance. When in doubt, just remember that during the next carpool the driver will hear everything you said when it was your turn

8. Fork over the dues on time.

Let the coaches be coaches, not bill collectors. If you’re distracting the coach with issues unrelated to coaching, they won’t be as effective during class.

So fork over the cash, moneygrip.

I’ve never heard about any rich gymnastics coaches, your dues are going to silly things like insurance, rent, heat, and lights – all things needed to train your gymnast.

Just because the coaches are cool, you shouldn’t treat the relationship casually. If you have a legitimate issue, talk to the front desk, but stay in communication. Please.

9. Be consistent.

Some gymnasts take the summer off because there are no competitions. Others miss practice all of the time. And then they and their parents are pissed that they aren’t improving as quickly as some other athlete.

Continuity is defined as an uninterrupted connection. It can also be described as persistence towards a goal over time.

When a gymnast is consistent over time, small gains will eventually equal large ones. When there are interruptions, progress will halt and your gymnast might even move backward.

By staying consistent with training, your gymnast will continually improve and be less susceptible to injury.

Consistent training also leads to lower stress as competition season approaches, as there will be less doubt.

Many gymnastics injuries occur from trying to do too much too soon for the body to adapt (especially if there is poor nutrition and lack of sleep as well). As an example, think of all the runner you know who develop shin splints because they had to rush to catch up their training.

10. Use the language of a winner.

Not the language of a loser.

1. A winner says, “let’s find out”; a loser says, “nobody knows”

2. When a winner makes a mistake, she says, “I was wrong”; when a loser makes a mistake, she says, “it wasn’t my fault”

3. A winner goes through a problem, a loser goes around it and never gets past it

4. A winner makes commitments and a loser makes promises

5. A winner says, “I’m good, but not as good as I ought to be”; a loser says, “I’m not as bad as a lot of other people”

6. A winner tries to learn from those that are superior to her, a loser tries to tear down those who are superior to her.

7. A winner says, “There ought to be a better way to do it”; a loser says, “That is the way I have always done it”

If a parent or gymnast speaks like a loser, progress will be slow at gymnastics class. Make corrections to language and actions, then character growth and skill improvement are sure to occur.

The 4th of July is a time to celebrate this GREAT Country we live in with your family and friends.

Most everyone will be celebrating at picnics and parties where you’ll be surrounded by high fat foods, sugary drinks, and killer desserts.

Essentially… Foods laced in a ton of FAT and SUGAR! Not the best environment for losing weight and sticking to a healthy eating plan.

Here are a few eating tips that will help you cut down on junk, yet give you the satisfaction of not totally depriving yourself:

1. Skip the hot dog and have a grass-fed hamburger instead.

2. Grill a chicken breast with a NEW seasoning or marinade.

3. Skip the bread with your burger.

4. Skip potato chips and choose veggies with a guacamole dip.

5. Skip high sugar desserts and make a dish of Greek yogurt with fresh strawberries and blueberries, it will have a red, white, and blue theme!

6. Skip the deep-fried fries or mashed potatoes and make a blue Okinawan sweet potato dish.

7. Make your potato salad with mustard instead of mayo.

8. Make a fresh salad with a ton of veggies and put the dressing in there lightly – oil and vinegar or balsamic vinaigrette. NO cream dressings.

11. Use smaller plates! Have big portions of healthy items and smaller of not-so-healthy.

12. Don’t hang out near the food table! Play with the kids instead :p

13. Drink light beer, red wine, and skip anything with soda! Make a pact with yourself to have a glass of water in between each drink. (For holiday drinking tips, check out this post: Ways To Beat A Hangover)

14. Bring a healthy dish YOU like and don’t go hungry.

15. Eat some healthy snacks before the party so you don’t go crazy once everything is out.

Supplements are just that: supplements. They support a healthy diet, they can’t replace it.

Everyone’s nutritional and health needs are different, so a blanket supplement plan probably won’t be the best for you.

But the basics of almost every supplement plan would be omega-3s, a multivitamin, and probiotics.

Attitude

A positive attitude won’t do anything by itself. But pair a positive attitude with positive action and you can accomplish anything.

One of the best ways to rock a positive attitude is to remember that while you can’t choose what happens to you, you can choose how you react to it. You can look at things in a positive light or a negative light, but the choice is yours

Charity

Do something nice for someone. It really makes your day better. I don’t know if Mr. Horton meant volunteer or donate to charity, but there are lots of ways to be nice.

Say “please.” Say “Thank You.” Keep in touch with the people you care about.

Downtime

You need more recovery time than just sleeping. Go for a walk out in nature. Take a yoga class. Read a book. Even *gasp!* watch a funny TV show. Do something for you, that relaxes you.